I found myself in disbelief that the waterpipe had STILL not been fixed within one day of them having the parts I’d bought and sent back to them. The whole point of me going to the city a couple of days earlier than I had planned to was to get the pipe fixed sooner than later.
I had been calling Dino each day from the city to check on the repairs. Each day he’d say that they were going to finish it “manana”. I just found myself getting more and more frustrated, and not happy with the fact that the villagers probably still held me responsible for the fact that the waterpipe had not yet been put back in service. It would be nearly a week by now. This was getting beyond ridiculous.
I called Dino back the day I was to return to Carti’ to find out one last time what the deal was. He said they were now talking about putting in a whole new stretch of pipe to replace the old one. I felt my frustration meter hitting red line again. The last thing they needed was ANOTHER pipe to deal with and worry about. Nevermind that, it wasn’t even NECESSARY. Why was this so hard for them to understand? I also found it rather frustrating that on one hand they were wanting me to pay the fine on the spot immediately on demand. On the other, they used a much lower degree of urgency in the matter of getting their community’s damned pipe fixed. For the first time since I’d gotten to San Blas, I found myself getting more than just a little bit mad at the local gentry. This was just getting ridiculous and there was simply no excuse.
I told Dino to tell the chief that if they didn’t get the pipe fixed by the time I got back, I was going to fix it MYSELF and charge the pueblo my $100 fine for my service. I was totally serious. I figured that if this didn’t put any fire up their asses, nothing would. I did also think that there was a slight possibility that they wouldn’t take me seriously, in which case, there probably wasn’t anything I can do about it. But at this point, it had become a battle of wits and even some bluffing, and I figured I had that going for me. 😛
I told Dino to tell the chief that I’m totally serious about this and that I would be there in the morning the next day to deal with the situation. If they want my fine (minus what I paid for the connectors of course), they BETTER have the pipe fixed by the time I got back.
Next morning, Ricardo picks me up and we head back to San Blas, along with some other travelers. It takes a little longer than I would have liked to get to Carti, but we still make decent time. Dino’s friends’ lancha is waiting for me, and we head to Andiamo. On the way, the guy driving the lancha tells me that they fixed the pipe that morning and were just waiting for everything to set. I was like… “FINALLY”… He said they used three of the connectors I bought, and kept the three others I bought as reserve. They were going to run water through it later today. I was glad that I was going to actually be there for that test.
When I arrived back to Andiamo, I called Dino to get caught up. I also asked him to come and get me when they were ready to test out the pipe. He said that they were planning on doing it in the early afternoon. He’d let me know. I proceeded to start putting away the groceries I’d bought for the next trip I had starting the next day and getting started on prepping the rest of the boat. There was much to do, and not a lot of time to do it.
A couple of hours later, Dino shows up. He said that they opened the valve on the source end of the pipe about an hour before, but no water was coming out on the island’s end. I was a little perplexed at this, and a little perplexed as to why he hadn’t been out to get me sooner. We headed over to his village to see what was up.
Water wasn’t coming out alright. I noticed that they laid a new section of pipe that came out higher out of the water than the original pipe did. Ok, well, if the source’s water pressure is low, that additional distance can make a difference on such a large diameter of pipe. I didn’t think that was the problem though. The source was a water tower on the island, so as long as it was full of water, there should be plenty of gravity-generated water pressure. After looking at things a bit more, I told Dino I wanted to see the other end of the pipe, where it goes into the water over at Carti’ Sugdup. Dino didn’t think that was necessary, as a couple of other guys at the scene did. They said that everything was fine there, they’d checked the valve themselves. I told him to humor me, I wanted to see it anyway.
Ten minutes later, we arrived at Carti’ Sugdup using Dino’s cayuco. we come right up to where the pipe’s junction valve is, at the island’s edge. It’s nested inside a small concrete box, with a slab of concrete covering it. We take the slab off and look at the valve. Dino turns it a bit to the left, not even a quarter turn until it stops, and says… “See? It’s open.” I stoop down to check the valve, and turn it to the right. It goes to the right to close, but only about three quarters of a turn. That doesn’t seem “right”. It should turn quite a few more times for the valve to close.
I turn it back to the left, and notice it stops about another three quarters of a turn. I turn it a little harder to the left, and after some sticking, it starts to turn some more. Now I’m able to keep going to the left, and the valve turns a lot more times. NOW, it’s open. It was still closed before. About a minute later, Dino’s cel rings, it’s the guys on the other end. They’re telling him that whatever we did on this end, it worked. Because they’re getting plenty of water now.
We get back to Carti’ Yantupu, and everybody is happy. The waterpipe’s end-valve is open and water is just flowing out as if it was a mini Niagra Falls. People are filling buckets, pouring water over their heads and splashing each other. Grown men are acting like eight-year-olds playing with an open fire hydrant on a city street. The old ladies are all happy again, and smiling at me. I suspect I’m back in their good graces. The kids are all sticking their hands in the water pipe, and splashing each other. It was nice to see the gloom lifted off the village, and things brought back to normal. Finally.
After a brief shutoff for me to connect the end of the pipe back to the island’s main pipe that would circulate the water all over the village. everything was back to normal. About an hour later, after letting the cement set, the valve would be reopened, and the whole island village would FINALLY have water again.
After shaking some hands with some locals, many of whom were very gracious despite the fact that my own boat caused the problem in the first place, I looked over and saw Dino talking to the chief. After they finished talking, he waved at me and walked back into the village. Dino came up to me and relayed to me a message he had given me via him, “Don’t forget Tony, you promised to pay the additional $100 fine by Friday.”
At least he still has his priorities straight.
Watch out for the poison darts!